Only 14% of Okinawa residents think genders equal

According to a 2015 survey among residents of Okinawa regarding the gender equality, only 14.4 percent think men and women are equal in everyday life, which is much fewer than the national average of 24.6 percent.

The details of the survey results are quite interesting. Regarding the gender equality in the workplace, 30.5 percent of Okinawa residents feel that men and women are equal, which is higher than the national average of 28.5 percent. Besides, 45.4 percent of men feel equal in their family life, whereas only 28.9 percent of women think so. Even in double-income households, 39.6 percent think that the wife should do most of the housework, and 41.1 percent think that while the wife does most of the housework, the husband should do a part of it.

Regarding the place of “Totome”, a kind of a tablet to designate the seat of family ancestors in traditional Okinawan culture, 42.9 percent of people think it depends on the circumstances of each family, whereas 65.8 percent think that it’s the duty of the first-born son to care for it.